Alison Roberts - The Italian Doctor's Perfect Family

‘Sure.’ But Toni was still looking at Pip as she turned away with a nod of farewell. ‘I’ll try and drop by to see what they find on ultrasound. Ten o’clock, isn’t it?’

Pip’s nod slowed and she left the unit feeling oddly dazed. How on earth had Toni known the time of the appointment? And why would he want to interrupt what had to be a gruelling work schedule in order to attend?

For one, extremely disconcerting, moment, Pip thought that maybe Alice was right. Maybe Toni Costa was attracted to her and was looking for an opportunity to see her again. She couldn’t deny that the possibility of seeing him again had not gone unremarked in her decision to follow up on Dylan Harris’s progress.

How would she feel if that was the case? Pip walked through the hospital corridors barely noticing the people or departments she passed. If the tingling sensation in her body right now, coming in rather pleasurable waves, was anything to go by, she would feel very good about it.

Very, very good!

Alice was not feeling very good. Pip entered her home that evening to find her daughter looking downright mutinous.

‘Nona’s taken my phone,’ she announced by way of greeting for Pip. ‘It’s not fair!’

‘It’s perfectly fair.’ Shona appeared in the kitchen doorway. ‘You spend half your life texting your friends. You’ll get it back when you’ve finished your homework.’ She smiled at Pip. ‘You’re home, finally! Wash your hands, love, it’s almost dinnertime.’

The tone Shona used to speak to both Pip and Alice had been…well…motherly. Caring but firm. Possibly a little close to the end of a tether. Alice and Pip exchanged a glance. They both knew it would be a good idea to smooth potentially troubled waters. Alice disappeared upstairs, to at least look like she was doing some homework. Pip followed her mother to the kitchen.

‘You OK, Mum?’

‘I’m fine. Bit tired, I guess.’ Shona pushed strands of her greying hair behind her ears as she bent to open the oven. ‘It’s just casserole and baked potatoes. Hope that’ll do.’

‘It’ll be fantastic,’ Pip said sincerely. How many other overworked and stressed junior registrars could bank on going home to a warm house and delicious hot meal? Or having their laundry done or messages run when time simply wasn’t there for mundane chores?

But, then, how many twenty-eight-year-olds would want to be still living in their childhood home?

It wasn’t that Pip resented the security and comfort of being mothered. It was just that—sometimes—it would be nice to choose entirely for herself. To maybe sit down and chill out with a glass of wine instead of being immediately sucked into a predictable family routine.

A routine that had been the only way she could be doing what she was doing, Pip reminded herself. And look what she’d achieved today. A life saved. A family who would be only too happy to return to a normal routine. Pip gave her mother a one-armed hug as Shona stood up to place a tray of hot baked potatoes onto the bench.

‘What’s that for?’ But Shona didn’t sound displeased.

‘Just because I love you,’ Pip responded. She grinned. ‘And because I had a great day today. I had to do a really tricky emergency procedure on a little boy, Mum. He’d stopped breathing. He could have died but he’s going to be fine.’

‘Well done, you!’

Shona’s smile was proud but Pip could detect an undertone. ‘You sure you’re all right? Is that pain back again?’

‘No, not really. Just a bit of an ache.’

‘Have you made another appointment with Dr Gillies yet?’

‘No. I’ll do it tomorrow.’

‘That’s what you said yesterday. And last week.’ Pip eyed her mother with concern. She looked a bit pale. And tired. ‘Is Alice giving you a hard time about doing her homework?’

Shona smiled again. ‘No more than usual. We’ll get it done.’

That ‘we’ didn’t need to include Pip, but she brushed aside any feeling of being left out. ‘Anything I can do to help in here?’

‘Have you washed your hands?’

‘Mum, I’m twenty-eight! If I want to eat dinner with dirty hands, I’m allowed to.’ Pip sighed fondly. ‘OK, I’ll go and wash my hands.’

‘Good girl. Tell Alice to wash hers as well. Dinner will on the table in five minutes.’

Alice was brushing her hair and staring at herself in the bathroom mirror.

‘Dinner in five,’ Pip told her. ‘Wash your hands.’

‘Hey, Pip—can we watch “Falling Stars” after tea? In your room?’

‘Sure.’ Although half an hour of watching a gossip show about Hollywood celebrities wasn’t Pip’s cup of tea, time cuddled up on her double bed with Alice, watching the tiny screen of her portable television, had to be a highlight of any day. It was usually after Shona had gone to bed and often with illicit bowls of popcorn or a packet of chocolate biscuits to share.

Their time—with no parental type obligations to fill, for either of them.

Alice bolted her dinner with one eye on the kitchen clock.

‘It’s nearly 7.30,’ she announced finally, with a meaningful glance at Pip.

‘I know. I’m sorry I was a bit late today. Things got really busy.’

‘“Falling Stars” is on at 7.30.’

‘I know. You can go and watch it if you like, and I’ll come after I’ve done the dishes.’

Shona was only halfway through a plateful of food she had been picking at without enthusiasm. ‘Have you finished that assignment you have to hand in tomorrow, Alice?’

‘I’ll do it later.’

‘No, you won’t. You never do. You’ll have to get it done before you do anything else, and that includes watching television. Especially watching television.’

‘But it’s my favourite programme!’

‘It’s a load of rubbish.’

‘Mum said I could watch it.’

Alice only called Pip ‘Mum’ when she wanted to play one of the adults in her house off against the other, a habit that had formed over the last few months—ever since she had decided it was cool to call Pip by her given name.

Pip took one look at her mother’s drawn face and knew it had been the wrong button to push tonight.

‘Mum’s right. You have to get your homework done, Alice. I’ll tape the programme and we can watch it later.’

‘But I want to watch it now! I’ve been looking forward to it all day!’ Alice looked at Pip with the face of someone unexpectedly betrayed.

Shona said nothing but her lips were a tight line.

‘Please, Pip?’

It was tempting to give in to that plea and maybe negotiate a compromise, like supervising the homework being done later, but Pip could sense a disturbing undercurrent to what should have been an average family-type wrangle. Roles were being challenged.

Alice expected her support but maybe she was too used to getting her own way by pulling the ‘friends’ card out.

Shona expected her support as well. Pip was Alice’s mother after all, and maybe Shona was feeling too tired or unwell not to play the ‘mother’ card.

Pip was caught in the middle but it was perfectly clear which way she had to jump.

‘No,’ she said firmly to Alice.

‘But you said—’

‘I know what I said, but I didn’t know you hadn’t done your homework.’

‘Yes, you did! You heard—’

‘That’s enough!’ Shona’s fork hit the table with a rattle. ‘I’m sick of this.’

Alice jumped up and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her.

‘Sorry, Mum,’ Pip said into the silence that followed. She sighed. ‘I’m not very good at the parent bit, am I?’

‘We’re getting to the difficult stage, that’s all.’ Shona echoed Pip’s sigh. ‘I’d forgotten what it was like, living with a teenager.’